Setting Sun
by n3v3rm0re
Summary: Bella is coping with Edwards sudden departure but a new threat in Seattle is much more perilous than a broken heart. Can Bella survive dealing with a vampire without the Cullens behind her? AU version of New Moon. EXB


_This is pretty much an AU version of New Moon. I didn't really like how that one turned out so I'm writting my own. Jacob is still a werewolf, Cullens still left, Edward still comes back. I'm just changing the plot. This starts after he leave and before Chapter 4 in New Moon. This will also be a side story. I'm currently writting a large story - Edwards version of Twilight and this one is just to get me out of writers block. I'll be updating maybe once a month unless inspiration hits. I already know whats going to happen so don't try to deter me. Check out my Darkest Before Dawn, if you want._

_Oh, and side note to the readers of my other stories. I'm putting Devil's Child and Neverland on pause. I've deleted them on the account but I haven't given them up. I just need to wait a bit until I get a bit more of a feel for the characters. _

_**I don't own Twilight, New Moon, or Eclips. Sucks to be me because they all belong to the great Stephenie Meyer. Of course if she ever sells them, I'll be the highest bidder with my whole...counts pocket change... $1.78 cents! (and thats Canadian money)**_

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Moving was the hardest part. Thinking was the hardest part. _Being_ was the hardest part. For the first few months I deluded myself into thinking that _he_ would come back. Deluded was a perfect description; I practically forced myself to hope for his return. The hope was wasted because I always knew he would never come back.

As the weeks went on I fell deeper and deeper into the depression; eating less, barely sleeping. My grades in school were still fine but I rarely talking in class, ignoring the teachers when they asked me a question, relying on my friends to explain my situation. Eventually, they stopped asking all together. I sat in the back of the class and did my work in agonizing silence. The only thing that kept me alive was the faint glimmer of hope locked away deep in my heart. The hope that one-day he would come back and life would be normal again but, as I said, it would never happen

It had been almost a year since I had first come to Forks. Christmas had just passed but it was like any other day. I put on a fake smile for Charlie but I refused any gifts. Nothing would make me happy ever again, why should he spend his money trying. School had resumed and I was sitting at the same table, looking at the same people. There was just one thing missing, I just refused myself to think about them or look at the place they used to occupy.

I poked at my lumpy food, pondering why I even bought it to begin with. There didn't really seem to be a point if I didn't eat it. I looked around the table with dull unfocused eyes. Lauren was fixing her new haircut, absorbing the compliments from the boys like air. It reminded me of someone else I refused to think about.

Mike was absorbed in an argument with Tyler, something in the news that had happened recently. A bomb going off in Seattle or something. I ignored it and moved on to the next person at the table.

Jessica. Ever since _he_ had left, she had been giving me dirty looks behind my back. She was nice to me on the surface, but never too deeply involved. I think she blamed me for him leaving, as if she had had a chance with him.

"No, look. It says right there. Flash of bright light, rainbows everywhere." Tyler jabbed at the newspaper sitting on the cafeteria table. My head snapped up with the description. There was only one thing I though of when rainbows were involved and it brought unequivocal amounts of pain. "It was probably a flash bomb. There wasn't even any damage."

I returned to poking the lumpy pasta. The little piece of hope in my heart was destroying me bit by bit.

"Nah, you're wrong. It was probably just a crystal or something that everyone is making a big deal over. Nothing interesting happened here so they make a piece of jewelry into an alleged terrorist attack." Mike retorted. He scoffed at Tyler's protests and returned to his lunch.

"What happened in Seattle?" I asked quietly.

You could hear a pin drop in the silence that followed my questions. Every eye turned on me at the sound of my voice. I waited for the familiar blush to rise in my embarrassment but it never came. I waited for the rest of them to talk, but the silence continued.

"What?" I asked meekly, trying to figure out the reason for the incredulous stares.

"Well, Bella." Mike started, still staring at me. "It's just that…we haven't heard you talk in… Well, it's been a while."

I frowned. It couldn't have been _that_ long, could it? I searched through my memories to find the last time I had a real conversation with anyone. Nothing came. I half smiled although it felt more like a grimace, and nodded to encourage him to tell me.

Everyone resumed their normal conversation except Mike and Angela who both gave me tentative smiles. Mike slid the paper across to me and nodded his head meaningfully at the front page.

The caption read. "**New Threat to Seattle?**" Under the large title was a picture of a building with the strangest flash coming from the corner. Everything else looked normal, as if the day were progressing just like everyone expected. The bright light was the only anomaly in the sunny picture. I looked towards the article.

_Streetwalkers were shocked late Saturday afternoon when a large flash of bright light astounded them and left those looking straight at it, blinded. The cause of the light has not been identified yet but many speculations have been circulating the thoughts of a bomb going off, though there was no damage._

_A photographer who was out on the street and coincidentally took a picture of the building at the same time took the flash occurred. "If I wasn't already taking the picture, I would have missed it." Jonathan Daily told our reporters. "That's how fast it was. Like, boom, then gone. It looked more like a firework than a bomb."_

_Many of the inhabitants of Seattle think the bomb is connected to the mysterious disappearances that have stuck the city within the past few months. Experts say it was more likely a prank pulled by kids…_

I stopped reading there, afraid to continue and prove the thoughts circling around in my head true. My hands began to shake so I put the paper down and put them under the table. Mike seemed to see the shock in my eyes and his gaze turned comforting.

"You read it. The experts think it was just a prank pulled by idiot kids. No need to worry." He told me lightly.

I nodded and tried to let the worry I felt dissipate. I worked hard to go back to the emotionless Bella from the past weeks. It was hard to push down the feelings that were bubbling up my throat, making my eyes water.

"Bella. It's okay. Just some kids." Angela comforted me.

I nodded once again and reined in control, making sure my face was carefully composed and no signs of worry escaped. The emotions threatened to overcome me, but I carefully ignored them, knowing I'd have plenty of time to cry when I got home.

I leaned back in my chair and went back to the silent pondering I had been doing before. Of course now it was a completely different subject. I knew what was really stalking Seattle, and it terrified me half to death.

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_Anyone see where i'm going with this? Yes? No? Maybe So?  
If not, well then review  
If yes, well then review  
If you think i'm crazy, then review and i will comfirm your suspitions. _

_- Hayley / n3v3rm0re_


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